Love Your Life (Even When You Don’t Like It All the Time): A Realistic Guide to Unlocking Joy in Life’s Messy, Mundane, and Magnificent Moments

by Rachel Awtrey

Genres: Nonfiction, Faith, Self Help, Christian

224 pages, Paperback

Published August 5, 2025

Reviews

[Kaylee Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book ever!!! If I could highlight the whole thing I would’ve! Soooo many amazing takeaways that changed my life for the better. Joy is all around us, and I loved all the ways Rachel shows us that in this book!!

[Kassidy Stewart]

I got recommended this book from a friend in small group! It was so good to help ground myself throughout a really busy (too busy) / overwhelming past couple of months. Lighthearted yet impactful and thought provoking. Loved and needed!

[Virginia Kackley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay this was a good one! I love the way she describes joy, play and just all things to do with loving your life. She offers reasonable and practical explanations and (some) answers to things we all struggle with while making us seem heard and seen and then roots it in scripture (pretty rad if you ask me).

[Rachelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love Your Life... this book is fine. It's inspiring to see the author's perspective on how her family handles challenging and messy moments along with being grateful for the magical moments, but mostly it's an autobiography. I didn't get much out of this book. It's steeped in Christian faith and centered around a family with little kids.

[Becky Devito · Rating 4 out of 5]

An encouraging and inspiring book.

Quotes from the book:

“ I thought Joy was in a destination. But it’s in the journey.”

“being present is where we see his presence”

“comparison is the act of taking our eyes off who God is and fixing our eyes on ourselves instead”

“ you turn to prayer before anything else. You find joy when you surrender.”

[Katie Shores · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read! Very practical and simple things to implement to add joy to your mundane. Just yesterday I struck up a conversation with a neighbor I’ve never talked to because I knew it would bring both of us joy after reading a chapter in this book. Reading this book felt like I was being encouraged by a friend/ peer.

[Maddie Asbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, a short and sweet read with lots of inspiring nuggets! I really enjoyed the simplicity of this one as joy seems to be made out to be an overly-complicated thing when it really doesn’t need to be, and Rachel reminds us of that here!

[Ella Dunlop · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved all of her practical takeaways and tips but also how everything was biblically grounded and backed up. She shared a lot of her own experience which was so inspiring with her story! Loved the guidance on creating community, cultivating joy, and creating order in your home/rhythms.

[Caitlin Courtright · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved every second of this book! I’ve truly never read a book that was more encouraging while still challenging me in my faith. I wanna hang with Rachel so bad and be her friend :(

[Jessica Iles · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️ | Loved this audiobook and love the message of the book!

[Stephanie]

every mom in the trenches should read this. actually any human should read this. there are a lot of good takeaways I'm going to try to implement in my life.

[Taliah Kendrick]

Enjoyed listening to this today! It was an encouraging reminder for me to continue to seek out God’s goodness in the mundane.

[Bre Niemeyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was good. I loved the way the author talks about Joy, and I wrote some notes that I can apply to my life, but I did find myself wondering how to apply other aspects to my life.

[Brynn Cagno · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was cute, I got it as a gift otherwise I likely wouldn't have caught it out. Easy read, but can't say I learned anything groundbreaking that I haven't read before

[Andrea Savage · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Not your normal self help book, I felt like it gave such great life tips that actually helped improve my life, and she shared them in such a real, and entertaining way! Definitely recommend!